


I Won't Say It

by GinnyRose



Series: Peter Parker: Disaster Bi Extraordinaire [3]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Bisexual Peter Parker, But He Refuses to Admit it, Canon Compliant, Fluff, Gay Ned Leeds, Karen is a Good Bro, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Oblivious Peter, Peter Parker Has a Huge Crush, Pining, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Pre-Ned Leeds/ Peter Parker, Pre-Slash, Precious Peter Parker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-05-20 11:13:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14893550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GinnyRose/pseuds/GinnyRose
Summary: With Tony Stark stuck in a conference, Aunt May stuck at work and Ned out on a non-date with a boy he met in band,  Peter is stuck bored and irritated in his room with no one to talk to about what is bothering him. Good thing Karen is always ready with an open ear. Too bad all her suggestions about what is really bothering him are completely and utterly ridiculous.





	I Won't Say It

**Author's Note:**

> This is technically a continuation from the other works in this series but they are all stand-alone works and it is not necessary to read them to understand this story.

Peter Parker was dying. It wasn’t a gunshot or a stab wound that was killing him. An alien invasion had not come down to rob him of life either. Peter was not dying a noble death, fighting the good fight until the very end.

Peter Parker was dying of sheer and utter boredom.

“Urgh.” Peter groaned, throwing down the book he had been trying to read for the past hour. It was a Sunday, which usually meant that he was helping out in Mr. Stark’s lab at Stark Industries. The weekly meeting had been a compromise between Mr. Stark and Aunt May when she had found out the truth about internship and it ensured that Peter was both learning useful information about the technology industry and was off the street at least once a week and somewhere safe. It also, Peter was pretty sure, provided a way for Mr. Stark to involve himself in and keep track of what was happening in Peter’s life without being too obvious about it. Peter still called Happy after every patrol but ever since Homecoming Mr. Stark had taken a more active role in looking after Peter. He’d even given Peter his own private number and although Peter had never felt brave enough to call it, they’d had text conversations almost every day. Peter had really grown fond of their weekly meetings.

But Mr. Stark had an important conference in Miami to attend this week and they had to cancel. Aunt May had tried to compensate for the absence by planning a whole day centered around their favorite things to do together. That plan had fallen through before it could even really start when May had been called in by the hospital to help out with an onset of severe flu cases. Which left Peter with nothing to do but try and entertain himself for the day.

He couldn’t even call Ned to hang out, as he normally did when he had any free time, because the boy had already made plans before Peter’s plans with his aunt had fallen through. He was meeting some friend he had made in band after Peter had quit. The boy – Nick - was nice enough and Ned seemed to really like him. Peter was pretty sure Ned was crushing hard for the guy although he had vehemently denied it at lunch on Friday when MJ had called their meeting a date.

Peter was happy for his friend; Nick seemed nice from the few times Peter had met him and he was also cute, both things Ned deserved in a boyfriend. But the idea of the two of them together made Peter uncomfortable, as though he feared Ned was going to replace him with Nick. Which was ridiculous because not only was Peter Ned’s best friend since childhood and therefore technically irreplaceable, but also because Ned had been completely supportive about Peter’s crush on Liz, even though that had ended in a literal crash-and-burn situation. Peter definitely owed it to Ned to be supportive; even if the idea of the two of them together made his skin feel tight and itchy.

Normally when Peter was caught in thoughts like this, he would have put his suit on and escaped his head through intensive patrolling, but he had promised May that he would stay inside and be home when she came back so they could have dinner together. Peter could, of course, sneak out and do some patrolling anyway like he used to before she knew the truth, but he had promised May he would be honest with her from now on. The fact that Spiderman had gained a lot of attention after the whole downing a plane fiasco and therefore couldn’t patrol without at least one person successfully taking a picture of him to post online also meant that, even if he wanted to, Peter couldn’t patrol without his aunt finding out. Peter didn’t feel like being grounded until graduation, so he stayed put.

Which left him to face his thoughts about Ned alone.

Peter groaned again, flopping down on his bed. He had to admit to himself that hated that Ned was hanging out with someone new. It was selfish of him and unfair to Ned who had put up with months of Peter flaking out on him to patrol as Spiderman without even knowing the reason, but none of that changed the fact that he hated it. He didn’t even know why it was bothering him so much, just that it was. It was all that he had been thinking about ever since MJ had called it a _date_. It was what had been bothering him all week. He had let Aunt May assume it was Mr. Stark’s absence because being upset by that at least made sense, whereas his discomfort about Ned and Nick most definitely didn’t.

He wished he had someone he could talk to about this. Ned was, obviously, out of the question. Peter couldn’t exactly go up to his best friend and say he didn’t like the boy he was hanging out with because it made him feel like he was being replaced. This was the first boy Ned had even shown the slightest of interest in – barring childhood and middle school crushes that hadn’t really counted because they were just kids then and relationships hadn’t meant much to them besides having someone to hold hands and share snacks with. It would be completely awful of Peter to do anything to jeopardize Ned’s chance at his first real relationship, which meant that he couldn’t say anything at all to his best friend about what was bothering him. The only other friend he had was MJ and the idea of sharing anything like this with her was out of the question – Peter didn’t want to be mocked for the rest of his high school life.

That left the adults in Peter’s life. He talked to Happy almost every day, after all his patrols, but those talks were meant to tell Happy about his Spider-Man activities, not go on about his personal problems. If Peter mentioned anything like this to Happy, the man would probably just hang up on him. The idea of sharing this with Mr. Stark was out of the question; there were few things Peter could think of that would be more embarrassing than telling his greatest hero that he couldn’t handle his best friend hanging out with someone else.

The only other person was Aunt May and Peter absolutely did not want her to find out either. She’d be the most understanding and the least judgmental and Peter knew she’d go out of her way to make him feel better about the whole situation. But Peter also knew that May would want him to talk about why he was feeling the way he was and that was the last thing he wanted to do. Peter didn’t want to talk about the weird emotions; he just wanted to be able to distract himself until he had forgotten that he’d had them in the first place.

Hence, the book he had been trying to read. But that book had been given to him by Ned and it was impossible to read it without thinking about what parts were the other boy’s favorites. Which led to him thinking about Ned, which of course led him to think about what his friend was doing right now. It was a nightmare. Peter had tried messing around on the computer a bit before the book but when he was feeling like this – overly warm, itchy, and just all around uncomfortable – his senses tended to heighten, his body reacting instinctively to a perceived threat. It wasn’t quite sensory overload but it was close enough that the bright lights of his computer only served to put Peter further on edge. He hadn’t tried watching television because he knew from past experiences that it would be just as bad as trying to go on his computer.

So, he had spent the last hour split between trying to read the book and staring aimlessly at the bottom of his top bunk, bored out of his mind and trying not to think too much about Ned and his non-date. He needed to find something to do before he lost his mind. If only there was someone he could talk to who wouldn’t judge him for how he was feeling, he would call them in a heartbeat –

Peter sat up quickly, nearly smacking his head on the top bunk in his haste. He did have someone he could talk to and he was feeling quite stupid for forgetting about her. He leapt off his bed and dropped to the floor to look under it. It only took a moment to find the brown paper bag he had tucked in the far corner between the wall and the foot of his bed and he pulled it out quickly.

It wasn’t the best place to hide his suit but after Mr. Stark had given him the new one, he had felt guilty stuffing it up into the ceiling where his old one had been hidden and then Aunt May had found out and it hadn’t mattered nearly as much. More often than not, Peter didn’t bother putting it back in the bag and stuffing it under his bed, generally choosing to tuck it into the back of his closet or the bottom of his backpack for easy access, but he hadn’t wanted to be tempted to put it on and go out despite his promise to May, so he had hidden it under the bed. In hindsight, it was probably why he hadn’t thought of this in the first place.

Peter dug around in the bag for a moment, pushing aside the cool fabric of the actual suit to reach the bottom and pulled out his mask. He didn’t even think about it before he was pulling the mask on over his head, eager to have something to focus on besides Ned. All the holographic information popping up into Peter’s vision at once was a bit much for him and he closed his eyes as he laid down on his floor.

“Good afternoon, Peter.” Karen’s soft, soothing tone was like a balm to Peter’s nerves and he felt himself relaxing some for the first time since May had left. “Your senses seem a bit sensitive today, would you like me to institute the Cranky Baby protocol?” Peter absolutely hated the names Mr. Stark had given all of the suit’s protocols – he was fairly certain even more had been added before he got the suit back – but he hadn’t found the way to change the names yet and he knew better than to ask Ned to hack the suit again. Still, the bright lights of the holographics were bothering him, even with his eyes closed.

“Hello Karen, yes please.” Just like that, the splotches of light Peter could see through his eyelids had dimmed out. He opened his eyes again tentatively. The information was all still there, but it was all in a muted gray color, discernable when he focused but unobtrusive otherwise. “That’s much better, thanks Karen!”

“It’s my pleasure, Peter.” She responded cheerfully. “Can I help you with anything else? Mr. Stark had informed me that you are not supposed to be patrolling today, has something happened to change this?” Peter didn’t quite know how Mr. Stark knew that, let alone how he had gotten the information to Karen, but he decided to ignore it for now. He had grown used to Mr. Stark’s weird brand of over-protectiveness and he had no doubt that Karen had orders to keep him inside.

“No, I’m not patrolling or anything! You can tell Mr. Stark that too, if he asks,” Peter was pretty sure Mr. Stark regularly watched the recordings from the visual and audio feeds on his suit to monitor his patrols but they both liked to pretend he didn’t. “I just… wanted to talk to someone.”

“Of course, who would you like me to call? Mr. Stark’s second meeting has just ended, I could call him for you-”

“That’s not necessary!” Peter nearly squeaked. He had never called Mr. Stark on his own phone but Karen had both called and accepted calls from Mr. Stark at the last possible moments Peter had wanted to speak to the man. He definitely didn’t need a repeat of last month’s call, when Karen had called Mr. Stark because Peter out on patrol past his curfew and Peter had ended up grounded for a week. The Nightlight Protocol had been one of his least favorite ever since. “I meant you, Karen, I don’t want to bother Mr. Stark!”

“Of course, Peter. What do you wish to talk about? Might I suggest discussing whatever is bothering you?” Peter nearly jumped at his AI’s words. It always surprised him when Karen knew something that there seemed no logical reason she could have figured out.

“Nothing’s bothering me! I’m just bored.” He couldn’t help the petulant sound tone came out at the end of his sentence but he didn’t feel bad about it. Karen was one of the few people that Peter felt he could whine too without feeling guilty. She was there to help him and even if this wasn’t a life-or-death situation as she was undoubtedly meant to help in, she was still a good sounding board. It also helped that she technically wasn’t a person at all and didn’t get upset if he was short or grumpy with her.

“Oh.” Karen seemed as confused as an AI could be for a moment, before she spoke again. “Are you sure there is nothing, Peter? You have an elevated sense of touch and sensitivity to light and sound, which are all indications of discomfort. You have not been out on patrol and you received eight hours of sleep last night, which is in the range recommended for your age group. There are no indications of injuries or any other physical problem that would account for your current sensitivities, which makes the most likely explanation that there is some emotional or mental issue that is causing the problems. Research suggests that these problems can be helped by discussing them openly.”

Peter hated when Karen got like this – he didn’t even know how she knew the amount of sleep he’d gotten and he didn’t want to ask because he was positive it would be some other protocol attached to his phone or something that had an embarrassing name. He had wanted someone to escape his boredom and thoughts with but he hadn’t counted on how helpful Karen tried to be. He was tempted to tell her what was bothering him – she had been a good sounding board with Liz even though she had tried to get him to kiss her in the elevator shaft – but he didn’t want any of the information getting back to Mr. Stark.

Karen, as usual, could sense what was causing Peter’s hesitance. “If you would prefer this stay between us, Peter, I can temporarily disconnect the path that sends all the video and audio feed from your suit to Mr. Stark’s computer.”

Peter sat up. “You can do that?” He half-asked, half-demanded, surprise in his voice. Man, if he had known that was a possibility, he would have disconnected it last week when he had miscalculated his swing and ended up falling into a dumpster. That had been _awful_.

“Certainly, Peter. I am required to record and send all video and audio while you are on patrol as well as anytime you seem to be severely injured, but for non-essential matters, I can choose to save the logged information to your suit and not to Mr. Stark’s computer. It is called the Sock on the Door Protocol; would you like me to implement it now?”

Peter blushed at the name. Trust Mr. Stark to name something as innocent as giving Peter a little privacy something completely dirty. He almost wished it had some baby-related name; it would be slightly less embarrassing that way. “How did I not know that was an option? Can that be like, the default setting? That would be awesome!”

“I am not authorized to make the Sock on the Door Protocol the default setting, but I can implement it now. All recorded audio will be backed up into your suit but not sent to Mr. Stark.”

“Man, I wish I knew that was an option before. Could have saved me a lot of embarrassment,” Peter mumbled, mostly to himself as he lay back down on the floor. The wood was cool but hard underneath him so Peter placed his hands under his head to cushion it.

“Peter? Do you now wish to discuss what is bothering you?” Peter thought about it for a moment; Mr. Stark not being able to listen to the conversation was a huge weight off his back and it wasn’t like Karen would be able to tell Ned or Aunt May about it, unless they put on the mask and knew how to work the playback function which Peter had never told them about. And MJ didn’t know he was Spider-Man at all, which meant that Karen couldn’t leak it to her either. Karen also was a very non-judgmental AI and very logical. Any advice she gave Peter would probably be pretty good.

“Yeah, I guess.” Peter said, slightly reluctantly. He wasn’t quite sure how to begin and Karen could sense his uncertainty.

“Take your time, Peter.” She said calmly. “I have all the time in the world.” Peter smiled slightly, despite himself. He wasn’t sure if Karen had meant the joke or if she was being literal which, of course, made it all the more amusing to him.

“It’s just… I don’t know.” He said finally, very articulately. “I was supposed to go out with my aunt today and do a bunch of stuff with her, but then she got called into work and I got stuck here by myself. Which is fine, I know she’s busy and we could use the money, but it left me here alone and I just kinda got myself into a slump worrying about things that I really shouldn’t be worrying about because they aren’t a big deal in the first place.”

“If they are bothering you, they must be important.” Karen responded. Peter frowned.

“I mean, the person it’s about is important to me, but I’ve got no reason worrying about what is going on, you know? There’s nothing wrong. A friend of mine is hanging out with someone new and its made me kind of uneasy but there’s no reason for it to feel like that.”

“I see.” Karen was silent for a moment. “Is this friend a girl?” She asked a moment later. Peter sputtered and sat up. His cheeks were flaming.

“Wha- no! Why would you think _that_?” He demanded.

“My apologies, Peter. The last time you spoke with me like this, it was about Liz. I assumed another girl was on your mind.”

“No! It’s about Ned!” Peter was quick to correct. He had no idea why Karen had thought it was about a girl he liked – he definitely did not talk about his best friend the same way he did people he had crushes on. “He’s made a new friend in band and they are hanging out right now. I just feel weird about it.” He admitted, shifting himself so that he was leaning against his desk.

“I see. Are you worried that this friend is going to hurt Ned? I can run a background check and see if this new friend is violent or a criminal.” Karen offered, helpfully.

“You can do that?” Peter was kind of ashamed at how much he didn’t know about Karen, but it wasn’t like she came with a manual or anything. He still hadn’t figured out how to get her to stop suggesting Insta-Kill Mode whenever he was about to fight someone who seemed a little stronger than others.

“Of course. If you provide me basic information about the person, I can check school and criminal records for any violent tendencies right away.”

“Is that even legal?” Peter asked. He was pretty sure people didn’t just give information out readily.

“Mr. Stark has instructed me to never answer questions about the legality of functions and protocols within the suit.” Karen responded, voice as calm as ever. That was a pretty solid no, then.

“It’s not necessary, Karen. Nick’s a good guy.” Peter responded with a sigh. Which of course, was the crux of the matter. If Peter had any reason to think Nick would mistreat Ned, he could justify being worried about it. But Nick had been nothing but a nice guy whenever Peter had seen him and Ned frequently gushed about how awesome the other boy was. “I don’t think he’s going to hurt Ned, at least not on purpose. I’m pretty sure they both really like each other, actually. Like, this is probably a date kind of like.” He added.

“I see.” Karen was silent for another moment. Peter imagined for a moment that she was searching the internet for any information she could relay back to him, like when he had caught Aunt May looking up how to give the “talk” to LGBT children on the internet after he had come out to her. He quickly pushed those thoughts away – for one Karen was a super smart AI and not an actual person who lived in his suit and googled things for him and for another, sitting through that conversation with May was a memory he would very much like to never relive. “Are Ned’s same-sex desires making you uncomfortable?” She asked after a moment.

“ _What_? No, of course not!” Peter blurted quickly.

“If that is the issue, there is an abundance of material online about how to be an understanding and respectful friend to someone of the LGBTQ community and I would be happy to pull them up for you.”

“So not _necessary_ , Karen! I like guys too, so it really does not bother me that Ned is on a date with a dude!” Peter was mortified. Being accused of being homophobic by an AI embedded in a super suit had to be a new low.

“I understand.” Karen paused for another moment. Peter was tempted to just take his mask off and end the conversation – this was not helping him to get over his weird feelings about Ned and Nick at _all_ – but he didn’t want to be rude. “Perhaps you are experiencing discomfort because of your own romantic feelings for Ned?” She suggested finally.

“ _What_? No – I’m not – I don’t – Ned’s my _best friend_! I like him as a best friend, not as – I don’t – _no_!” Peter couldn’t even get the words out, he was so shocked at Karen’s words. Ned was his best friend, the closest person in his life besides Aunt May. Peter would do practically anything for Ned, but that didn’t mean he _liked_ him.

“I’m sorry, Peter. I didn’t mean to cause you distress.” Karen’s voice was serene as ever and it grated Peter. No one, not even an AI, should sound that calm after suggesting something as ridiculous as what she just did. “It just seemed the most logical explanation – if you are not worried that Ned will be harmed by this Nick person, the next plausible emotion is jealousy, which can be an indication of romantic desire.”

“It’s _not_! I am not jealous of Ned and Nick! I just don’t like them hanging out – that doesn’t make me _jealous_!” Even to him, the argument sounded weak. He wasn’t describing his emotions right – they were a jumbled mess on the tip of his tongue and were coming out all twisted. He was not jealous of Nick and Ned’s non-date.

“Perhaps you are right.” Karen responded, annoyingly calm as ever. “Perhaps it is simple friendship that makes you feel uncomfortable. Do you feel this way when Ned spends time with MJ?”

“MJ’s different!” Peter responded immediately. It was the honest truth – Ned hanging out with MJ alone, which he had been doing more often while Peter was on patrol, had never bothered Peter the same way Ned hanging out with Nick did.

“Why is that, Peter?” Karen asked. She sounded like a therapist in that moment and Peter wanted to cringe. He had wanted a conversation to distract him from his emotions, not bring them to the fore-front. Still, he couldn’t just end the conversation with Karen thinking he was in love with Ned. She would never let it go; it would be Liz in the elevator at DC all over again and Peter definitely did not need his AI encouraging him to kiss Ned every time he wore the mask in front of his friend. Or have her mention it to Ned himself, when Peter let him put the mask on for fun in his room.

“Because-” Peter paused. He didn’t actually know why MJ and Ned’s friendship had never bothered him. Perhaps it was because MJ was friends with him too, as much as MJ was capable of being friends with anyone. She mocked them both equally at lunch and during Academic Decathlon meetings and had never minded when Peter occasionally joined them after school. Perhaps it was because MJ had such an independent aura about her, like she was someone who didn’t need to steal his best friend because she was perfectly fine being alone. “because it’s _MJ_.” He said finally. That was the best explanation, really.

“I see. Are you sure it is not because MJ is a girl and is therefore not a threat to your and Ned’s relationship?” This conversation was so not going in Peter’s favor.

“Me and Ned don’t have a _relationship_! I mean – we do, just not _that_ kind of relationship! We’re best friends!”

“Many of the most stable and long-lasting romantic relationships have started out as friendships. Would you like me to pull up the data supporting this claim?” Before Peter even responded, charts and articles were popping up and even though they were all in the muted gray of the Cranky Baby Protocol, Peter’s eyes ached at the sight of them. He closed his eyes tightly.

“Karen, no! Me and Ned are not those kinds of friends! Nothing romantic at all! Please close those!”

“Of course, Peter.” Peter opened his eyes again slowly. Sometimes when he asked Karen to do something, she did the opposite. Peter thought Mr. Stark had set it up purposely so that Karen could override Peter’s commands at any time just to be annoying.

“Jeez, Karen. Why do you even think I have romantic interest in Ned?” If he had access to her reasoning, he could put this whole misunderstanding to rest.

“Do you mean besides your discomfort with Ned going on this date, Peter?”

“It’s not really a date.” Peter grumbled, pulling at a loose string at the bottom of his shirt.

“You speak of him in the same patterns that you used when you spoke about Liz. It is different from how you speak about others, even those you care about.” Peter looked up at that, dropping the thread. Technically, where he looked didn’t matter, as Karen didn’t have eyes, but he had been surprised and looking back up had been instinctual.

“I do _not_!” He definitely hadn't ever spoken about Ned differently then how he talked about MJ or Aunt May. Maybe he spoke of him more frequently, but that was because he and Ned did a lot of interesting things together.

“Playing back conversations about Ned.” Karen responded and before Peter could respond or tell her not to, a video began playing. The video was a little harder to make out than usual it was done in muted grays and whites rather than color but Peter could tell that it was a view of his desk covered in math homework. Peter remembered this – it had been two weeks ago when he had tried to use Karen to help him figure out some of the more difficult problems and had gotten sidetracked talking about Ned and his latest Academic Decathlon practice.

“I wish you could have seen Flash’s face when Ned beat him out for the question! It was hilarious! And of course, Ned got it right, because he’s super smart and, like, really into all the biochem questions MJ pulled up for us to study. He’s definitely the best on our team, besides MJ.” Past Peter had been leaning back while he spoke, tapping his pencil against his desk rhythmically as he spoke about his friend. It was obvious he had forgotten what he had wanted to talk to Karen about, so caught up in laying praises on his friend. Still, it was completely normal to compliment a _friend_.

Another video began playing. This time, it was from when Peter was on patrol as the view was from the top of an apartment building where he could easily see the busy streets below. Peter didn’t recognize the moment, but it must have been a slow day for crime – Peter always talked to Karen a lot on slow days. “I can’t believe Flash invited me and Ned to his party on Friday. I mean, he probably only did it because its supposed to be for the whole Academic Decathlon team but I could totally see him purposely forgetting to invite me and Ned, you know? Anyway, I really don’t want to go but Ned’s super excited about it, so I’ll probably end up going. It’s hard to say no to Ned, especially when he wears that hat he bought for Liz’s party last year. He just looks too cute in it…” Past Peter’s voice trailed off as Karen shut down the feed.

“That doesn’t prove anything Karen, lots of people call their friends cute!” Peter said the moment the video had disappeared. Which was perfectly true, although Peter was a bit discomforted by the fact that he had called Ned cute out loud, even if it was just to Karen. He normally tried to keep those thoughts in his head.

“I am sure that’s true. But Ned is the only person you have referred to with that adjective in all our conversations, Peter. And you speak of him more often than anyone else.”

“Because he’s my _best friend!_ That’s all it is! He’s my best friend and I’m worried because I don’t want Nick to replace me while I’m out being Spider-Man! That’s all there is to it!” Peter could hear that he was getting angry, which was completely irrational because it was just Karen and she was only trying to help.

“Alright, Peter. I didn’t mean to upset you. We can end this conversation, if you would like. Although I think it is important for you to discuss your feelings with Ned. I am sure he is not trying to replace you – after all, you are a perfectly good best friend to have.” Peter closed his eyes and leaned against his desk again. He felt relieved that Karen had dropped the conversation but also a little guilty that he had yelled at her.

“Thanks Karen, that’s really nice of you. I’m sorry I yelled at you.”

“There is nothing to apologize for, Peter. I understand that you were upset and I will not bring up the conversation again, unless you instigate it. Although I will suggest that now would be the perfect time to discuss your feelings with Ned, as he is currently approaching your doorway.” Peter jumped up from the floor in surprise, hitting his head hard against the side of his desk.

“Ow!” He lifted a hand to rub against the back of his mask. “How do you know that? Did you call him?” If she did, Peter wasn’t going to speak with her for a week. He’d be silent all throughout his patrols until she apologized if that’s what it took.

“Certainly not.” Karen responded, calm as ever. “At your aunt’s request, Mr. Stark installed a security camera in front of your apartment door which is accessible via your suit and your aunt’s laptop. Would you like me to pull up the feed, now, Peter?” Why didn’t the adults ever tell him anything? He needed to know these things - sometimes he danced his way from the elevator to their front door and he obviously wouldn’t be if he knew his aunt could _see_ him doing it.

“Not necessary, Karen!” Peter could hear the knocking now, clear as day. “Shit!” Peter whispered emphatically. Ned was the last person he wanted to see right now, when Karen’s suggestions were still fresh in his mind. “Gotta go, Karen! Bye!” Peter cut off any response the AI might have made by shoving off his mask. He dropped it onto his desk while he ran to answer the front door. Even if he didn’t want to see Ned, the boy would probably end up freaking out and calling May if Peter ignored him.

Peter reached the door just as Ned stopped his first round of knocking. Ned was very peculiar about knocking – he always made five fast, loud taps before stopping just to pick it up again thirty seconds later if he hadn’t heard a response. Peter and May always joked that they could always tell the difference between Ned and the food deliverers. Right now, with Karen’s accusations ringing in his ears, Peter hated that he knew his friend so well.

“Hey man, what’s up?” Peter said as he opened the door. Did his voice crack there or was Peter imaging things? God, he hoped his voice didn’t crack – Ned would totally know something was going on. He needed to ask a question that would distract Ned from it. “Thought you were hanging with Nick today?” Totally smooth. Peter moved aside to let his friend in the door.

“I was,” Ned responded as he walked past his friend. He hadn’t seemed to notice how odd Peter was being as he sat his backpack on the table absentmindedly. Peter leaned against the wall for a second before deciding that was too weird and stood up straight again. “We hung out at this new café place Nick recommended. Coffee was whatever but they had some great muffins. I brought you a blueberry one!” Ned tossed him a white paper bag Peter hadn’t even noticed he’d carried in. Peter caught it.

“Oh, thanks man.” Blueberry was Peter’s favorite flavor of anything. He didn’t like the way his stomach fluttered with the idea that Ned had thought to bring him something that was Peter’s favorite while he’d been hanging out with another boy. But Ned and Peter were always doing stuff like that for each other; it’s what best friends did. There was no reason to feel weird about it now.

“You okay? You’re acting weird…” Peter’s eyes shot up towards Ned. He hadn’t realized he’d been staring at the bag in his hand. “You didn’t get injured again, did you? I thought you were staying inside today because May wanted to take you out after her shift?” There was a twinge of concern in Ned’s voice and Peter felt instantly guilty. He didn’t want to worry Ned just because Karen had put some ridiculous ideas in his head.

“Nah man, I’m fine. I’m just – surprised you’re here right now. I mean, it went well right?” Peter was awful at this but at least Ned seemed put at ease. He was leaning against the table now, digging into his backpack for something.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it? We basically just talked about the latest season of Doctor Who and the upcoming band thing until Ali got off work.” Ned was still searching for whatever was in his backpack and he didn’t catch the surprised look on Peter’s face.

“Who’s Ali?” He asked Ned’s back as he watched his friend dig through his bag. It would have been easier for Ned to just pull everything out of his bag until he found what he was looking for but the boy had always been stubborn about that kind of thing.

“Nick’s girlfriend. She just got a job at the café we went to. She’s super nice and way into Star Wars. Apparently, they met at the premier of The Last Jedi and they’ve hit it off ever since. Wish I’d get that lucky.”

“Wait, Nick has a _girlfriend_? And you’re cool with that?” Peter couldn’t keep the surprise out of his voice and Ned looked up from his backpack, clearly confused.

“Yeah? Why would I not be?” Peter felt himself flush as he tried to think of a reason. “Dude!” Ned said as he realized what Peter had assumed. “Did you think I was going on a date? With _Nick_?” Peter put his hands up in a conciliatory gesture even as he felt an odd sense of relief run through him.

“Why wouldn’t you be on a date with him? He’s cute and super nice! And you talk about him all the time! I thought you _liked_ him!” He defended himself. And really, it hadn’t been just Peter who had thought the two were acting a little more than friendly. It had been MJ who had put the idea of it being a date in Peter’s mind in the first place.

“Yeah he’s super nice and super _straight_! And even if he wasn’t, I only like him as a friend. Trust me, dude, when I get a date with some guy, I’m gonna tell you straight up. It’s going to be all I talk about for a week.” Peter couldn’t help but laugh at the slightly far-off look that entered Ned’s eye as he undoubtedly imagined how awesome that future date would be.

“Alright, sorry I assumed. Still doesn’t explain why you’re here.” Peter walked over to Ned, no longer feeling nearly as self-conscious as he had been when Ned had first appeared. All it had taken to calm him down was hearing Ned say he and Nick weren’t dating. But Peter was determined not to think about that. Ned grinned up at him and finally pulled whatever he’d been searching for from his bag and shoved it at Peter. Peter instinctively looked down and blinked. Then he blinked again. Then he grabbed the video game from his friend and lifted it up to see the title more clearly.

“Dude! This hasn’t even come out yet! How’d you get it?” Peter tore his eyes up from the game to look at his friend. Ned was grinning widely now.

“Nick’s mom got it for him. Apparently, she’s got some sway with their local video game store and they let her buy it early. I told Nick how bummed you were that you couldn’t go to Stark Industries for your Internship this weekend and how your plans with May fell through and he agreed to let us borrow it. Pretty cool, right?”

“Dude, this is _awesome_! Thanks so much! You didn’t have to do that. Tell Nick thanks, too!” Ned laughed at Peter’s excitement.

“No problem, man. You know you’re my number one guy, no matter what. I’m always going to do something to cheer you up. Especially if that means borrowing a kick ass new game to play together. You set it up, I’ll make the snacks.” He’d pulled out more things from his bag at that and Peter glimpsed a box of extra-butter popcorn and a giant bag of peanut M&Ms, their favorite video game combo.

“You’re awesome, man!” Peter said again, as he began walking to his room to set up the game. Ned just beamed at him again and shooed him down the hallway. All the worry Peter had been feeling had disappeared and the itchy feeling was gone from his skin as he relaxed fully for the first time all day

. Ned hadn’t forgotten about him; he had even thought about Peter when he had been hanging out with someone else. That brought a warm feeling to Peter’s chest that he couldn’t quite explain but Peter busied himself with setting up the game so he wouldn’t have to think too closely about it, choosing to focus on the overwhelmingly happy feeling Ned gave him whenever he saw him. Peter pushed aside his Spider-Man mask to pull forward the old flat-screen television he had tucked at the back of his desk for precisely these moments. Aunt May had gifted it to him for his last birthday so that he and Ned could play games at any time without fighting her for the television in the living room. He had just finished setting up the game as Ned walked into the room, giant bowl of warm popcorn and already melting M&Ms securely in hand.

The warm, fluttery feeling in Peter’s stomach grew as he and Ned settled themselves on the ground by his desk, each with a controller in hand and the bowl of popcorn between them. He was content now; he was with his best friend who hadn’t replaced him with some cute new guy to be his boyfriend.

It was perfectly normal for a best friend to be happy about that, whatever Karen might have had to say on the matter.

**Author's Note:**

> It was really hard to write Karen, so I hope I did her justice. I really love the way Peter interacts with her in Homecoming so I couldn't resist writing a story where Peter and her talk about his feelings for Ned (without him admitting that he has them in the first place). I hope you all enjoyed this and I plan on having another story up sometime soon (if you are interested!)


End file.
